Spears, Federline in mediation over child custody

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears and ex-husband Kevin
Federline have started mediation sessions to hash out an
agreement over custody of their two sons and avoid a trial set
for August, according to Federline's lawyer.

Federline still wants to maintain sole legal and physical
custody of the boys while allowing Spears to be involved in
their lives "in a very substantial and meaningful way,"
Federline's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan told the entertainment
show E! News (www.eonline.com) on Friday.

Spears, 26, lost custody of Sean Preston, 2/12, and James
Jayden, 21 months, in January after two brief hospitalizations
for psychiatric evaluation that marked a new low for the former
teen pop star after a year of increasingly bizarre behavior.

But Spears has since won credit for turning her life around
and this week was given court permission to spend overnight
visits with her sons in addition to the two daytime visits per
week she already enjoys.

The issue of permanent custody is due to be decided in a
family court trial in Los Angeles in August but the divorced
couple began mediation talks this week.

"Kevin is seeking to maintain the sole legal and physical
custody that he presently has. There's nothing magical about
50-50.," Kaplan told E! News in an interview that is set to air
on cable TV channel E! on Friday evening.

"He wants to have an order ... that takes into account a
certain stability and structure for the kids ... regardless of
whose house they happen to be in at any given moment," Kaplan
added.

Kaplan said the mediation had not yet resulted in an
agreement that would avoid the August trial. But he said the
mood was "comfortable, positive and it was a mood that was
consistent with opening at least a great dialogue."

Spears, one of the world's most successful pop stars of the
early 2000s, and her former backup dancer Federline, 30, were
formally divorced last summer after two years of marriage.

In the past six months, Spears' father Jamie has taken over
management of her personal and business affairs and the singer
is reportedly working on a new album. She has also been
mentioned as a possible Emmy award nominee for two guest
appearances on US television sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."